Stars Come Out to Support Healing TREE 4th Annual Gala

N’Kenge’s an artist who’s destined to make a serious impact on several musical fronts. From operatic to spiritual, from pop to musical theater, from jazz to blues; tender or intense, N’Kenge’s performances are consistent in her technical excellence. Her musical repertoire covers 11 languages and her power and control are uncanny.

This Broadway Darling, was recently seen on TV this year as a presenter at the 58th Annual NY Emmy Awards. NY Post called her “Electrifying” in the role of Mary Wells that she originated in Broadway’s Smash Hit Motown: ¬The Musical. N’Kenge made her Broadway debut in Sondheim on Sondheim singing alongside Vanessa Williams, Barbara Cook, Tom Wopat and Norm Lewis. Anyone who has witnessed a performance by singer N’Kenge is not only amazed by the incredible power and range of her voice, they are o en surprised at the sheer range of credits and accolades she has accumulated in a very short time. Th¬ese include the White House where she sang for President Bill Clinton and for the Commander-in-Chief Ball for President Obama, London’s West End at the ¬Theatre Royal in a tribute to the late great Ray Charles, solo engagements in New York at Carnegie Hall and the Lincoln Center, even a worldwide broadcast by NPR from the Library of Congress in Washington, DC highlight the extent to which her star has risen.

N’Kenge’s interest in music began at the tender age of three a er her mother enrolled her daughter for dance and piano classes as a means of channeling her daughter’s unusual energy. Th¬is decision paid off with recitals and a piano scholarship by age six.

However, when N’Kenge discovered that she possessed a singing voice this startlingly mature youngster began devoting herself to its full time development. Her supportive mother taught her many popular songs including the Whitney Houston catalogue of classic ballads in its entirety, and she fondly remembers attending her great grandmothers church in the south whom she credits for her ability to sing Gospel as the result of listening and learning from those amazing southern church singers.

Via a family connection Motown Records offoered N’Kenge a recording contract while still in her teens and encouraged her to move to California. But her mother, Annette Ho man, born in Georgia and a strong believer in the power of education decided that her daughter’s future would be better served at school, at home in New York. So N’Kenge continued her studies at the H.S. School of Performing Arts, Manhattan School of Music and the Julliard School winning kudos for her voice and beauty.

At 17 she won the Lena Horne Singing Competition Scholarship, the ASCAP Leiber and Stoller Award and the Leontyne Price Vocal Competition. N’Kenge was crowned Miss Manhattan in the Miss America Pageant which led to appearances on television. Th¬ese include Good Morning America which led to a chance to perform the National Anthem for “¬e Mets” at Shea Stadium. She spent her summers performing at Music Festivals in Europe, Israel, and the Czech Republic and it is therefore no surprise that she can sing fluently in eleven different languages!

Columbia Artist’s recognized her notable vocal talents and through their auspices has given over 100 solo concerts throughout the United States. While still completing her schooling N’Kenge recorded her first solo CD “Red Souvenir” and continues to present her own program for students with lesser opportunity in schools throughout the country. Th¬is young and energetic singer was recently nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress for her portrayal of the leading roles in both the Elton John/Tim Rice Musical “Aida” and in Marion Caffey’s “3 Mo Diva’s” by the Helen Hayes Awards and the Arizoni ¬eater Awards. N’Kenge is a frequent soloist in pop programs with the Indianapolis Symphony, Baltimore Pops Symphony, New York Pops Orchestra among others.

N’Kenge starred in the Michael Jackson Tribute Show World Tour and has already cast in the highly anticipated Broadway Bound Show Akhenaten: Th¬e Musical as Queen Ti. ¬is season N’Kenge will be seen as a soloist with many symphonies this year such as Cleveland Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony and more.

For more details on N’Kenge 2015-2016 tour schedule and recordings, visit her at www.nkengemusic.com

Kevin has most recently appeared on television in The Blacklist, The Good Wife, Happyish, Person of Interest, Madam Secretary, Castle, Blue Bloods, Royal Pains and the hit Netflix series House of Cards with Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright. Kevin co-starred with Nancy Travis on the CBS sitcom Almost Perfect, and was the star of Gene Roddenberry’s EARTH: Final Conflict, as “Boone,” which was syndicated worldwide. He has also been on such shows as Greek, White Collar, CSI: NY, Damages, Ugly Betty, Cashmere Mafia, Ghost Whisperer, The Closer, The New Adventures of Old Christine, One Tree Hill, Monk, Crossing Jordan, Judging Amy, Malcolm in the Middle, CSI: Miami, Touched by an Angel, Frasier, and Murder, She Wrote.

His film credits include The Unattainable Story (with Irina Björklund) as well as Paranoia (with Liam Hemsworth, Harrison Ford), Julia with Tilda Swinton, Raising Helen (with Joan Cusack, Kate Hudson) A Cinderella Story, (with Hillary Duff, Chad Michael Murray), American Pie II and Home Alone III.

He starred on Broadway in the 50th anniversary production of The Glass Menagerie with Julie Harris, Calista Flockhart and Zeljko Ivanek, directed by Frank Galati for which he won a Theatre World Award and was nominated for the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards. Off-Broadway credits include Dinner With Friends (2000 Pulitzer Prize), directed by Daniel Sullivan and Lemon Sky, directed by Jonathan Silverstein. Regional theatre credits include Bucks County Playhouse’s Other Desert Cities, Adobe Rose Theatre’s Time Stands Still, Denver Center For the Performing Arts’ The Christians, Baltimore Centerstage’s An Enemy Of The People, NY Stage & Film’s Ninety and Pasadena Playhouse’s Defiance.

Charles Baker left his mark in Hollywood and the homes of fans across the world as ‘Skinny Pete,’ on the hit AMC show Breaking Bad, which has been nominated for 151 awards and has won 48. Before stepping on Hollywood soil, Baker already had 37 credits to his name and now has moved to Los Angeles permanently with his wife and three children to pursue his craft, which he has been studying for over 20 years. Notable film projects for Baker include To The Wonder, a Terrence Malick film, opposite Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, and Javier Bardem, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints opposite Rooney Mara, Casey Affleck and Ben Foster, Wild opposite Reese Witherspoon, and Nicholas Winding Refn’s Neon Demon with Elle Fanning and Keanu Reeves.